Archer Library: Public Affairs 202: Databases

Database Search Tips

AND requires all specified words to appear in each document

e.g. public affairs AND environment

OR requires any of the specified words to appear in each document

e.g. influenza OR flu

NOT excludes terms not desired

e.g. energy NOT coal

Combining ideas

e.g. public affairs* AND (excerics* OR fitness OR physical activ*)

(domestic violence OR family violence OR spous* abuse) AND (strateg* OR approach*)

prioritize your concepts to begin your search with the most important one
consider additional concepts to use, if necessary, to reduce or expand retrieval
if the database has a thesaurus, either online or print, check for suggested terms

Public Affairs Databases--Some Places to Start

The following databases are excellent places for starting research in public affairs and communication studies. Databases allow you to search for your topic across thousands of journals in a single search.

A complete list of library databases about public policy is available here.

CBCA Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database
The Canadian Business & Current Affairs™ Database combines full text and indexed content from all four subsets (Business, Current Events, Education, and Reference). The content comes from a broad range of Canadian sources, with the majority of content in English and hundreds of thousands of full-text articles in French. The resource includes millions of full-text articles and records from 1933 to current, providing content in Canadian current events, business, science and technology, medical, humanities and the arts, and hundreds of topics.
Academic Search Complete

Academic Search Complete is the comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 5,300 full-text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 9,810 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
PAIS International with Archives
An index to journal articles, books, conference proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical directories. Subject areas: agriculture, banking, business, demographics, education, environment, finance, government, health, international relations, law and legislation political science, public administration, social sciences, statistics.

Having Problems?

Not enough material?

if you have combined several concepts using AND, start again and search only the most important one. Then add the next most important one, and so forth
look at each concept and see if you can think of additional synonyms (use OR)
if you are searching free-text, look at your terms carefully and think of ways to broaden your phrasing

Too much material?

look at a sample of the items retrieved; if a high proportion is not relevant, add another concept
sometimes irrelevant records may be eliminated by NOTing out a particular aspect or population
try limiting by language, date, form of material, particular field instead of free-text